Mirrors and murals lined the California manse Dietrich rented from a socialite countess

Marlene Dietrich was born in Berlin in 1901. Photo: brandstaetter images/Getty Images/Imagno/Getty Images

Marlene Dietrich developed a penchant for nomadism over the course of her life as an entertainer. Born in Germany in 1901, the Oscar-nominated actor made herself at home all around the world with residences in Berlin, Paris, and New York City. Her most famous and well-photographed pads, though, were the sprawling mansions that she rented from friends in Beverly Hills.

Still, wherever the Scarlet Empress star lived, she wrote as if her world revolved around her daughter, Maria. “A home without a child is not a home,” Dietrich said in her 1979 memoir Marlene . “I was convinced of this even before I had a child.…